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REPORT OF THE CHIEF DENTAL OFFICER AND
PRINCIPAL SCHOOL DENTAL OFFICER
This report on the dental service which is run on behalf of the Inner London Education
Authority in concert with the Borough dental service, presents a somewhat similar pattern to
the year preceding.
One main pre-occupation present as ever in this service is the struggle to obtain the
necessary staff for its continuity. The number of dental officers employed rose from 3.7 to
3.8 Another is school dental inspection. Because of the reintroduced scheme for dental
inspections, the number of, sessions devoted to this increased from 61 to 123 and it followed
therefore that the number of treatment sessions decreased from 2,006 to 1,806.
Fourteen sessions were used for health education.
The number of first inspections at school increased from 4,963 to 13,955.
Because of the new dental scheme the number of first visits for treatment decreased from
6,512 to 4,230, and subsequent visits from 10,274 to 7,399. The number of emergencies increased
slightly as did the number of additional courses of treatment commenced. The number of failures
was much higher than last year - a phenomenon experienced also by other boroughs.
More permanent teeth and less temporary teeth were filled. One encouraging feature was
that the number of extractions of both permanent and temporary teeth was lower than in 1967.
The average number 6f fillings in permanent teeth was a little higher than last year although
that in temporary teeth was a little lower.
The ratio of temporary teeth filled to temporary teeth extracted was a little below the
general average, but that of permanent teeth filled to permanent teeth extracted much lighter.
One other item which must be mentioned is the improvement to the dental surgeries at
Thornhill Road, where two new units were installed, and where new linoleum has enormously
improved their appearance.
The service was also assisted by the appearance of Pierre the Clown who completed a tour
of a number of schools. This is referred to in that part of the Medical Officer of Health's
Report which deals with Health Education. All in all this was a year of some progress.
MATERNITY AND CHILD WELFARE
This service proceeded along the same lines as 1967 with a similar pattern of sessions
and attendances except that it was decided to institute some lectures at the welfare clinics
in order to stimulate interest in dental care.
R. E. Hyman,
Principal School Dental Officer.
Chief Dental Officer.
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